Stay With Me
by Arastas
Summary: Never before had any of his prey captivated him the way she did. James/Alice, formerly a oneshot.
1. Prey

Never before had any of his prey captivated him the way she did.

Her silken hair, her stormy eyes, her tiny frame… They all called to him, made him want her in ways her scent did not. He couldn't bring himself to kill her, not yet.

When the other one vanished with her, he tracked them. He was, after all, a tracker; it was what he did. He followed at a carefully calculated distance, always alert for the slightest change in her scent, which would signify the beginning of her transformation. When none came, he was relieved. No one should have the pleasure of sinking their teeth inîto that milk-white flesh but him.

After weeks of meticulous planning, he caught the weakling while he hunted, pathetically draining _animals_ to survive.

"Tell me where you're hiding her," he hissed roughly, holding him against a tree by the neck. "I know you have her. Where is she?"

"Please," the other man choked out. "Please, don't hurt her."

"I'll do whatever I like with her," he snarled, to scare him, but he knew exactly what he wanted her for, and it was certainly not painful. "_Where is she_?"

"There's a cabin," the man gasped. "About twelve miles west. W- What do you want her for?"

He smirked, cold satisfaction settling in. "Me."

The thin plume of purple smoke wouldn't be visible to the naked human eye from twelve miles away, he reasoned as he ran. The girl would have no way of knowing that anything was amiss.

So why was she running around screaming and throwing herself when he arrived?

He paused before he entered, listening intently. Perhaps he should have looked into her medical condition a bit more thoroughly… But then he heard words.

"No, no, _no_! I should have gone after him as soon as I saw it, and now it's probably too late… Oh, and then _he'll_ get here, and the fire will start! No, no, I can't, I can't take it…"

Eyes narrowing, he opened the door to find her huddled on the couch, sobbing hysterically. She hadn't heard him enter, and so he made his way quietly toward her shaking form. When he placed a cold hand gently on her shoulder, she stared up at him, gray eyes huge. Then she screamed.

"You!" she wailed. "Oh, you've killed him! And now you're here to kill me, and oh, the fire…"

He blinked at her, unnerved. "How did you know?" he questioned in a low voice, taking a lock of her short black hair in is fingers, as he'd longed to do for months.

"I saw it," she sobbed wildly. "The visions told me so."

Visions? Well, she was even more special than he'd first thought.

"The fire won't kill you," he said slowly. "It'll hurt, but it'll make the visions easier to handle. Do you want that?"

"Please, please!" she cried, clinging to him now, her skirt soaked through with tears.

He smiled. Done. "You'll have to do just one other thing for me, though. Is that okay?"

"Anything," she wailed. "Anything. Just make it better, please."

"As you wish, dear," he answered smoothly, then whispered his demand against her neck just before he bit:

"Stay with me."

* * *

**Once again, I'm guilty of writing about James instead of working on my multi-chaptered fics. This one is James/Alice, in case you didn't catch that. My friend Molly wrote a really epic one; you should read it when she gets an account. ^.^**

**I own nothing. Except a bunch of T-shirts and posters. And books. LOTS and LOTS of books.  
**


	2. Happiness

Her creamy skin had always been a nice contrast to her dark hair and lashes. Now it was strikingly lovely, ebony on alabaster.

She opened her eyes slowly, her lids peeling back with careful deliberation. For a moment, he missed their stormy gray, but quickly decided that their current scarlet was even more beautiful.

They darted around for a few moments, finally focusing on him. "You." Her awed whisper was bells in his ears. "You saved me."

He nodded slowly. "Yes, I did," he agreed, anxiously awaiting her reaction. She was a disoriented newborn, he knew, and he was a bit afraid of what would happen once she remembered everything—Particularly the circumstances surrounding her change.

She looked confused for a moment, and then her black brows drew together in a frown. "But you said… something else. I would have to… What?"

Here it came, then. Time to bend the truth.

"You promised… to stay with me," he informed her.

Not understanding, she blinked innocently at him. "Stay with you?"

He sighed. Time for explanations.

"Mary Alice, you're—"

"Alice," she interrupted, wrinkling her small nose.

_Alice_. It was the most beautiful sound in the world to him, an angel's name for his perfect angel.

"Well, Alice, you're a vampire," he said bluntly. "I'm one too. I bit you, as you requested. But you promised to stay with me—" He stopped, hesitating. Could he really do this to her?

Of course he could. "—Forever."

The word didn't seem to sound ominous or fate-sealing to her, for her eyes lit up and she asked eagerly, "Like friends? So I won't be alone anymore?"

He stared at her. The poor thing had no idea what was going on. He'd need to make his meaning plainer.

"No, Alice, sweetheart," he explained patiently. "Like this." And then he kissed her.

She responded instinctively, her mouth melding with his, her small arms twining around his neck. He deepened the kiss, continuing until she was left trembling on the couch where she had writhed for days.

"Oh," she said finally in a small voice, while he smiled down at her. "Like that."

"Yes, like that," he agreed, watching her facial expressions carefully.

She was frowning again. "Like that… forever?"

"Forever," he echoed, beginning to get worried. He certainly hadn't expected her to _refuse_ him, particularly not after that kiss.

"But I don't even know you," she protested. "And besides… There's kind of someone else I was interested in."

He growled at this mention of competition. She was _his_, and his alone. He finally had her, perfect and immortal in his arms. No one could take her away.

"We'll get to know each other," he said shortly. "In regards to your other ludicrous statement, our kind don't court like that. We have eternal partners, mates, and if they're taken from us… Well, we can be very vengeful. Mates," he repeated. "And you, my lovely Alice, are _mine_."

* * *

Crimson eyes blinked. "Yours?"

"My mate," came the impatient response. "And mine in general," he added as an afterthought.

"Yours?" she asked once again.

He closed his eyes for a moment, willing himself patience with his newborn. "All mine," he said firmly.

Instantly, she slapped him across the face with a tiny pale hand. "I belong to no one, least of all you!" she cried out indignantly.

"Oh, yes you do," he snarled harshly, grabbing her by the waist and forcing her lips to meet his own.

Against her will, she responded to him once again, and he left her wide-eyed and gasping for unnecessary air.

Out of nowhere, her head fell back against the pillows and her enormous eyes gazed into somewhere he couldn't see.

"Alice?" he cried, panicked. "Alice?!"

She blinked, the rest of her body remaining very still. When her eyes opened again, she was back behind them.

"Vision," she said casually, not meeting his eyes.

With one hand, he gripped her chin and tilted it upwards, forcing her to look at him. "_What did you see?_"

She sighed, her sweet breath fanning across his face. "You," she admitted unhappily. "And me. Running together. We looked… happy."

He resisted the urge to pick her up and spin her around the room in his arms, but only barely. Instead he merely asked, "And why is that such a bad thing?"

"It's not, I guess," she allowed with a small wistful smile.

"So why not make your vision a reality?"

"What, go running?"

He shook his head, eyes boring into hers.

"Be happy."

* * *

**All right, I know I said this was a oneshot, but I had too many ideas in my head, so now it's not. It'll probably be pretty short, no more than ten chapters, and short ones, at that. Yes, they are eventually going to meet the Cullens. That means Bella... And Jasper. I'm writing up chapter 4 right now, so it's really about when I get around to typing everything.**

**Disclaimer: I own a shirt with a large picture of James on it (the back says "James can track me any day!")... You tell me if that's the rights to Twilight.  
**


	3. Hunt

"So, this is eternity?"

Rather confused by the obvious dissatisfaction in her tone, he frowned over at her. "What do you mean?"

She scooted closer to him on the shabby sofa, laying her head on his chest as she gazed dreamily of into the distance. "It's just… Well, I love being here with you, and being a vampire is great-- The speed, the strength, the clarity, even my visions… But there has to be more to my existence than sitting around in a cabin all day." Her ruby eyes sparkled with imaginings of epic adventures and daring missions, of risky maneuvers and close escapes.

He smiled slowly. She had reached this milestone much sooner than he'd expected. "Alice darling," he began, "I think it's time I introduced you to the hunt."

She looked up at him with puzzled eyes. "But I already know how to hunt," she protested, frowning.

It was true. She had a lot of natural ability, and he was a good teacher. She had quickly developed into a fast and stealthy predator, her particular hunting style marked with speed and grace.

"That's hunt_ing_," he corrected gently. "Not _the_ hunt."

"Oh. Well, what's _the_ hunt, then?" she asked, perplexed.

"My preferred prey," he explained with a grim smile, "are humans favored by one of our kind. The immortal will grow… attached… to a human, and I will hunt them for sport. It causes the vampire great agony when I kill the little mortal," he added cheerfully.

"That's how you found me," she realized slowly, and his silence was answer enough. "The other one, the one you killed to save me, he…" She paused, her human memories jumbled and unclear. "Why did he have me again?

He shrugged, figuring he might as well explain while she was still reasonably disoriented and impressionable. "He liked you," he said simply. "How could he not? His attentions drew me to you, yes. He liked you, but I liked you _more_. And, as you know, I don't let go easily." He punctuated his last statement with a dark smile, which she ruined by rolling her eyes.

"All right, then, if you're so confident. How about doing something _I_ want this time?" She pouted up at him, her scarlet eyes wide and earnest.

"Anything," he murmured, brushing his lips against her hair.

"Teach me how to hunt," she commanded with a blinding smile.

* * *

"Perfect. She's been watching him for a little over two months now. She thinks it might be love."

She frowned. But isn't this wrong, James?"

He stared down at her, bewildered. "How so?"

"You found me in basically the same way," she reminded him. "How is killing him going to make her react? Think about if you had lost me."

He closed his mind firmly against the thought and squeezed her hand tighter. "This is completely different," he promised her. "I found you by doing _this_, by seeking other immortals with attachments to humans. I didn't actually grow _fond_ of one."

"Yes, you did," she objected softly. "You wouldn't have changed me otherwise."

For once, she'd outsmarted him. He didn't have an answer ready for that. But he wasn't about to give up. "Alice, dear, all humans are born to either stay human or become a vampire. You were one of that second category, those meant to be turned. Sadly, not everyone ends up the species they should. This spineless piece of scum and her little mortal pet obviously should both be either human or dead."

While his logic may not have been sound, the conviction in his voice was impossible to doubt.

"That makes sense," she agreed slowly, her vivid eyes narrowing in thought. Making up her mind, she grinned over at him, and her teeth glinted wickedly in the moonlight. "Let's hunt."

* * *

**At last! As I've mentioned, I've had this and more written for months now, but I've been too lazy, haven't had the time, or haven't had access to a working computer, so it's been difficult to get a chance to put it up. In any case, ta-da! It's slightly longer than the previous chapter, I believe, and hopefully worth a small amount of the wait.**

Also! I need a new title for this. It's no longer really applicable, seeing as this isn't a oneshot anymore, and it sounds too much like Stay Afraid, my Bella/James oneshot. (No, they weren't written at the same time. Roughly, yes. But Stay Afraid was written around two in the morning at a sleepover, while I was basically drunk on Honey Bunches of Oats, and this was written in sane little intervals. Not that anyone cares.) So, suggestions are greatly appreciated.

**Disclaimer: The picture of Cam as James on the front of my shirt is starting to come off really weirdly in the washing machine-- How exactly did you get it on there, Maddie? Alas, even my meager mementos of the Twilight series are fading, as are my dreams of ever owning the rights to it. (Of course, those vanished when Breaking Dawn came out... And when it wasn't a continuation of Bella and Felix's secret affair.)**


	4. Losing

Four words only: Don't kill me, please?

* * *

_Eighty-Five Years Later_

_

* * *

_

He was the flash of white-gold and honey blond she had been seeing for over eighty years. He was her silent mirage, the one whose arrival she had both awaited and dreaded for nearly a century now.

Deep red burned into hot amber as their eyes met, and she looked away quickly, afraid to face the distant future that had all too suddenly become her present.

The girl she had also seen, but as one of them, as a topaz-eyed vampire: Arms linked with the stunning blond woman, laying on a couch with the bronze-haired male, arm wrestling with the huge muscular one.

She gripped the hand twined with hers just a little tighter.

"The girl is with us," the leader was saying firmly when she came back to herself.

He then proceeded to introduce them all: Seven of them, neatly coupled off, with the exception of _him._

_Jasper._

The word sang to her, hummed in her ears.

_Jasper._

It was the name she'd been waiting to hear, the one that filled her with hope and fear and a sensation of floating.

_Jasper_.

Lightheaded and wonderfully dizzy, she turned away as they left, barely having heard a word.

_Jasper._

_

* * *

_

"Yo, Alice! Snap out of it!"

She grinned sheepishly, trying her best to look upbeat. "Sorry, guys. I'm just a little out of it today, I guess."

He slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her lightly into his lap. "That's the understatement of the decade," he remarked. "What's got you so distant? You've been like this ever since we met those Cullens. Are you having bad visions or anything?" His tone grew softer at the end, less teasing and more concerned, making her smile just a little.

"Just a few about them," she answered honestly, keeping her voice as level as possible and feigning nonchalance. "I'm starting to think that maybe hunting Bella isn't such a good idea," she added quickly, glad to tell them the truth, even if it wasn't the real reason for her odd behavior. "It would destroy their whole family."

"Isn't that kind of the point?" came the irritated drawl from behind them.

"Shut up, Laurent," the chorused in unison. Then he added, more gently, "I'm sorry, Alice, but that really _is_ the point."

"But they're not just a coven!" she cried, growing agitated. "They're a _family_, one that this human has become an integral part of. I've seen a bunch of different outcomes. If she dies, they die inside. Edward loses the love of his existence; Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper--" she choked out the name with some difficulty-- "lose a sister; Esme and Carlisle lose a daughter. If we go after her and she doesn't die, you do! _I _lose _you!_ Don't you _see?_ Everybody loses! But if we leave them alone, no one does!"

She was on her feet at this point, screaming at them, at him. She had seen it, and she couldn't lose him, especially now that she has found _him_ and was thrown all out of sorts. Jasper.

Quickly, he had her in his arms. Cradling her, he soothed gently, "I won't leave you. It'll be okay. We won't hunt her if you don't want to; everyone will be fine."

"I just can't lose you," she sobbed quietly. "It's not worth it; nothing is worth it. Nothing is worth losing you."

"You won't," he assured her softly. "I'm not leaving you, Alice. I'll stay with you."

Attempting and failing to regain composure, she whimpered into his chest, "If you… If I… I couldn't. I wouldn't be able to."

He knew what she meant despite her current incoherence. "I know, I know. I wouldn't either, without you. So I'll stay here, how's that?" He offered a miserable attempt at a smile, and then quoted her. "Nobody loses."

* * *

I repeat, no murder for the ridiculous wait, please. **I own nothing, as always.** And I can no longer wear my James shirt because of the way the picture has peeled in the laundry, if that's any consolation.


	5. Choice

So, this is the last chapter, and I just want to preface it with another of my usual rambling author's notes. First and foremost, I'd like to thank you all for sticking with me through my first completed multi-chaptered fic, though I may turn this into a long oneshot at a later date. And thanks for all the lovely reviews; they always make me smile. :3 Also, my apologies if the end seems a bit choppy; I just felt that it was best told in these little snapshots. And you'll have to make some inferences, because I didn't cover everything that happened between the previous chapter and this one. Basically, James catches Alice with Jasper, and she's left to make her choice. Which is obvious, in my opinion, but I wrote it, and I'm biased anyway. xD Hope you like it! **Again, I own nothing.**

* * *

"Is _this_ what's been going on?"

She jumped guiltily at the voice and spun quickly out of his embrace. Her dark eyes flashed with shame at the shock in his face, and _he_ pulled her protectively behind him, but she darted lithely away to face her accuser.

Inhaling a shuddery breath, she managed to stammer out, "James, this is my fault. Before you do anything, please, just listen, and don't blame Jasper."

His startled expression twisted into a sneer almost instantly at her words. "Protecting him? You've always been so self-sacrificing, Alice. Noble, most certainly. Moral, apparently not."

The tall form standing beside and slightly in front of her moved forward, and his deep gold eyes met his would-be attacker's crimson ones defiantly. "No, do blame me, please," he declared firmly, his slight southern accent more pronounced under the stress of the situation, despite his calm demeanor. "The girl is at no fault, and I've been itching for a good fight for decades now."

A sort of hysterical laugh startled her. "Not you too? Oh, how _chivalrous_ you vegetarians are! Contemplating their lifestyle, Alice, dear? I thought I knew you better than that. Your hunting skills are unrivaled, truly, and I know how you delight in the kill."

She wanted nothing more than to slink back into the shadows using one of the very hunting techniques he had just commended, but she knew the two would tear each other apart needlessly if she vanished. Now was not a time for cowardice. "Stop it, both of you!" she cried in a high, clear voice. "I repeat, _this is my fault. _I'm to blame, James. And I don't want either of you dead."

"So you care about him now?" The words came almost immediately, and in spite of his bravado, she could hear the hurt that lay underneath them

She stared up at him with earnest dark eyes. "Yes," she admitted without hesitation. _Honesty is always the best policy, _she reminded herself. _When it comes to others of our kind, that is. With humans…_ But hadn't Jasper just been telling her sincerely about the values of humans as individuals, not just as food? Hadn't she been listening intently, nodding along, eyes alight with new possibilities? "Yes, I care about him," she repeated firmly. "But I also care about you. And you know that, so don't play stupid. _I _know _you_ better than that." Possibilities, yes, but he was right; the rush of the kill would be greatly missed…

"Nothing you say or do can make me stop blaming him," he informed her calmly. When she froze, he assured her, "I won't hurt either of you, though. I'm not that cruel, Alice; I'm ashamed you would think that of me," he added at her relieved expression. He then looked at the other vampire and sighed deeply. "You would take her?"

"What?"

He rolled his eyes, as though the explanation should be obvious. "Knowing what she's done, how many she's killed, knowing who she is and all the blood on her hands, you would still take her?"

"Absolutely," came the answer, without even a pause for thought.

Her heart soared at his promise, then sank at what she knew was coming next:

"Choose."

* * *

She was, she realized now, two different people. She had succeeded in being both of them when she was human, but with her transformation had come a division. And each of her choices brought out one half, made her someone different.

Her first love was intense-- _still is_, she reminded herself-- and breathtaking, a passionate never-ending whirlwind. With him, all her human vulnerability surfaced, all of her fear and her remembered adrenaline. Then her new side took over, and suddenly it was lust for body and for blood, love of him and of the hunt. Her first romance was dangerous, like him-- and like her, at times. The unbelievable high that came from just being with him, the feeling that mimicked the sensation of blood pounding through her empty arteries and her crystallized heart working frantically-- that, coupled with those rare moments of unexpected tenderness, was what she had existed for for the past eighty-five years.

But _Jasper…_ Jasper and his promises, Jasper and his dreams… If James was her past, Jasper wanted to be her future, and it was a bright future that he spoke of. No more terror, no more pain, no more death. Only love, and the idea of it was, to her, shrouded in a sort of blissful golden mist. Sunshine and flowers crossed her mind, along with laughter on rainy days and the way light arced through a puddle. Her traitorous brain conjured up images of the two of them hand in hand, and thoughts of belonging, of _family._

Black and red. White and gold. Arctic winds and burning lava. Breezy afternoons and mellow sunshine.

New or old? Relaxed or daring? Comfort or thrills?

And more importantly, _who did she want to be?_

_

* * *

_

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she whispered into his shoulder, her own frame trembling with sobs. But as he rubbed her back and assured her it was all right, she realizes suddenly that the pain she feels is more a result of her own stress than a byproduct of their imminent separation. There's no great crack down her heart; her breath doesn't catch at the thought of never seeing him again. Maybe it wasn't love after all, she marveled, but only rebellion. A brief denial of who she really was. "I can't run from my nature," she murmured, more to herself than him. "This…" She gestured blindly around her, encompassing him, the clearing, his whole life, "This isn't me. And I wish it could be, but it's not, and I'm not. Not who you wish I were."

"I love you whoever you are, Alice; you know that," he reminded her softly, but there was no hope in his eyes.

She shook her head slowly and pulled out from his arms. "Goodbye," she breathed, and then she was gone, leaving him peering hopelessly through the trees with honey-colored eyes, searching in vain for someone who would never come back.

* * *

She found herself apologizing again, but this time she was laughing and hysterical and knew she would be crying if she could. "I'm so sorry I put you through that," she sighs again and again, reveling in the feel of his arms around her and the knowledge that she'd chosen well.

And he sat with her as she cried out the confusion, just held her and let her get it all out of her system. And when she finally recovered, he merely asked, "Where to?"

She smiled weakly and gripped his hand tightly, glad of the support. "Italy sounds good," she suggested.

"Western Europe it is, then," he declared grandly.

She knew he was trying to make her laugh, and she wanted to, for him, but something in her still seemed broken.

* * *

Ten years later, she was still haunted, though she never doubted her choice. She kept telling herself she just needed time to readjust, but even to her, a decade should have been sufficient. He'd been nothing but endlessly patient, even on her worst days. So why did she constantly feel ready to break into pieces?

One rainy afternoon in Massachusetts, it struck her what was wrong, and the answer was so obvious that she laughed aloud.

He was out searching for a decent laundromat nearby (his fixation on clean clothes was one of the few things that made her smile), so she scribbled a quick note and left it on the table:

_Gone out HUNTing. Back in a few hours._

_~Alice_

_He'll be so happy_, she thought, humming to herself as she wandered the streets of Boston.

He showed her how to do this just under a century ago, but the technique, thankfully, had stayed with her. A real smile pulled at her lips when she spotted them huddled together in an alley, and when she returned home that evening with a tiny rust-colored stain on the hem of her shirt (which would plague him to no end; blood was tough to get out), she knew she was back for real this time.

_This is who I choose to be, and there is no shame in embracing that._

His old words came back to her suddenly: "Stay with me."

_I did._


End file.
